FACULTY SENATE MEETING
MINUTES
September 14, 2009
3:15 p.m., 601 Rudder Tower
http://facultysenate.tamu.edu

Present: Derya Akleman, Carisa Armstrong, Hassan Bashir, Doug Biggs, Andrea Bonito, Dragomir Bukur, John Carhart, Joe Cerami, Jonathan Coopersmith, Joe Dannenbaum, Louise Darcey, Walter Daugherity, Thomas DeWitt, Janice Epstein, John Fackler, Norma Funkhouser, Holly Gaede, Fran Gelwick, Lisa Geraci, Melinda Grant, Michael Greenwald, Robert Griffin, Mike Hanik, Charles Harris, Kim Quaile Hill, Joe Jaros, Guido Kanschat, Andrew Klein, Karen Kubena, Reza Langari, Rafael Lara-Alecio, Thomas Linton, Robyn Lints, Carol Loopstra, Blanca Lupiani, R.N. Mahapatra, Sam Mannan, Christopher Mathewson, Kathryn McKenzie, Mary Meagher, Tim Murphy, Adam Myers, Ramona Paetzold, Frederic Pearl, Brian Perkins, David Peterson, Dale Rice, Lynn Ruoff, Roger Schultz, Karen Snowden, Kathleen Speed, Richard Stadelmann, John Stallone, Douglas Starr, Bob Strawser, Vatche Tchakerian, Elizabeth Tebeaux, Frank Thomas, Manuelita Ureta, John Van Huyck, Tom Vogel, Wei Wan, Thomas Welsh, Gary Wingenbach, Thomas Woodfin

Absent: Stephen Atkins, Maria Barrufet, Michael Benedik, Charles Bollfrass, Tahir Cagin, Gwendolyn Carroll, Iftekharudd Choudhury, Mark Clayton, Ron Douglas, John Edens, Carlos Gonzalez, Mariah Hahn, Dirk Hays, Richard Hutchinson, Eluned Jones, Larry Kelly, Vikram Kinra, Ming-Han Li, Patrick Louchouarn, Lanny Martindale, Bo Norby, Weston Porter, Dan Roelke, Jorge Seminario, Ramesh Talreja, Winfried Teizer, Theodore Turocy, Jyotsna Vaid, Gary Varner, Jijayanagaram Venkatraj, Hank Walker, Jennifer Welch, William West, Matthew Whiteacre, Debra Zoran

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order by Speaker Bednarz at 3:21 P.M. He opened the meeting by welcoming guests and senators. There were three senators from Galveston present via videoconferencing.

Guest Speaker:
Speaker Bednarz introduced guest speaker Dr. Karan Watson, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academics. She commended former Provost Jeffrey Vitter and former President Elsa Murano for initiating the Academic Master Plan, and Interim President Bowen Loftin for taking up the project and proceeding with it.  In addition, she stressed the urgency of making immediate progress toward fulfilling all the goals of Vision 2020; a progress report is due to the Board of Regents by the end of summer, 2010. 

She cataloged the significant progress to date, including 447 net new positions in the faculty reinvestment program since 2002; a successful capital campaign which funded 69 endowed chairs and 62 endowed professorships; increased graduate student enrollment; new programs such as Hispanic Studies, Environmental Sciences masters program, Performance Studies masters program, and a number of certificates; increased undergraduate enrollment, international experiences, and research experiences; the University Studies program; COMPASS, the new student information system; and numerous new and renovated buildings.  The university administration plans to focus first on overarching issues, then on the research, teaching/learning, and engagement master plans; a diversity plan being developed by Vice President for Diversity Christine Stanley; graduate and undergraduate enrollment management; enlightened and shared governance; improvements in the faculty evaluation process; a Center for Teaching Excellence portal to share best teaching practices; finance at the college and university levels; creation of fine arts and law colleges; teaching and learning outcomes for students at all levels for the upcoming Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation visit; and improvements in graduate students’ work environment with increased opportunities for professional development.

She announced that Vice President for Research Jeff Seemann has a budget for the projects selected from the Research Master Plan white paper process, and that consideration is being given to establishing an Institute for Advanced Study (à la Stanford or Princeton) to bring very elite figures to campus to work with our faculty and especially our graduate students.  Other needs are to “get better” on shared equipment and infrastructure, and on engagement, to return to the people of the state of Texas the goodness of knowledge, creativity, and scholarship which is useful to society; help PK-14 education; and increase certificate programs in support of lifelong learning. 

Senator Mathewson(Geosciences) asked how reaching the goal of 30% graduate students will affect undergraduate enrollment.  Interim Provost Watson said this has to be decided; the 30% figure was the mean of target peer institutions and may not be the right number for Texas A&M.

Senator Tebeaux(Liberal Arts) stated that the reward structure will have to be changed (from being based 60% on research, 30% on teaching, and 10% on engagement) to get these goals achieved.  Interim Provost Watson replied that those proportions are neither campus- nor college-wide but can be discussed and modified, and that to be a research university we need many faculty doing all three, or at least spending a sufficient percentage of time to add up to that in total, and that we have to meet the national market to keep our best faculty.

Speaker Comments:
Speaker Bednarz discussed the EC's second scheduled meeting with the subset of Regents (Box, Schwetner, and Wilson). They discussed the presidential search, shared services teams, and initiatives to save money.

The EC also had the chance to meet with Porter Garner and Shelly Potter (the chair of the Association of Former Students board of directors). They identified shared concerns, opened up a communication channel that they intend to keep open, discussed methods to make our case more convincingly to the BoR, and inquired about using their facility for the joint UT Faculty Council-A&M Faculty Senate meeting this spring. Since that time Marilyn Willie has visited and secured a favorable agreement.

Speaker Bednarz stated he has attended three meetings of the presidential search committee. The search committee has composed an advertisement and sent it to the Chronicle of Higher Education, heavily revised an online survey concerning the characteristics that would be desirable in the next president, and welcomed a third student to the committee. He encouraged the senators to participate in the online survey and to encourage their colleagues to do so.

Bednarz met with Husameddin Al Madani, the chair of the Graduate Student Council. They talked about the issues of the summer and hope that they will meet regularly to exchange ideas, cooperate on shared projects, and speak with a unified voice whenever possible.

Speaker Bednarz discussed how he has represented the Senate at a number of University functions: the first Graduate Convocation, Freshman Convocation, and (one) August graduation ceremony.

Several EC members and himself attended the new faculty orientation and lunch. Bednarz also attended the new faculty dinner.

The EC met with Bob Lawless, our case representative with Academic Search, the firm handling the presidential search process. They tried to express faculty priorities, argue for as much openness as possible, and speculate about how the recent events would influence the process and willingness of individuals to apply for the position.

Several EC members and the Speaker conducted a short orientation for new Senators. The event was reasonably well-attended, and he hopes useful for new Senators.

Speaker Bednarz stated he attended the presidential search open forum during the first week of school. Very few faculty attended, and although this is probably not surprising, it sent the unfortunate message that faculty were disengaged. He was asked by several non-faculty committee members why he thought so few faculty attended.

Last Friday Bednarz addressed the Hispanic Network Summit. He was asked to speak about the faculty’s role in maintaining and increasing diversity at Texas A&M.

Speaker Bednarz also co-chaired the first post-Vitter meeting of the Taskforce on Shared and Enlightened Governance. The Taskforce has developed a working definition of shared governance and established five subcommittees to work on aspects of shared governance and make recommendations to the Taskforce. The subcommittees are working on the presidential search process, vice presidential search rules, perceived needs and problems with shared governance, shared governance issues at other levels of the University, and leadership communication.

At the president’s and provost’s briefing this morning, much of the time was taken up discussing plans to contend with H1N1 flu. A few items of note.
• Flu shots for faculty and staff will be available on campus in the near future.
• To some extent, CDC recommendations and A&M rules are in conflict—A&M rules can require students to submit a doctor’s note but the CDC recommends self isolation unless complicating factors obtain.
• Some capacity to isolate students living on campus exists.
• Faculty will be kept informed of the situation and will be asked to help make information and recommendations available to students.

Another item of concern is that because donations to the AFS are lower this year, the Association will reduce its funding of University programs. The reduction will likely occur next year as well.

Finally, two upcoming events will most probably result in some disruption on campus. On 16 October, President Obama will visit. Greatest impact will be felt on west campus as the event will occur at the Bush Library.

On 6 October, a memorial service for Norman Borlaug will be held. The event will be attended by several individuals who require significant security arrangements. Thus, some disruption, interrupted access, etc. will likely occur.

Speaker Bednarz asked that the Senate observe a moment of silence in memory of our distinguished colleague Norman Borlaug.

New senators were sworn in and welcomed to the Faculty Senate.